


it's nice to have a friend

by duelistkingdom



Series: nanonwrimo 2020: 100k challenge [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Yami Yuugi | Atem Has His Own Body, anzu is the best wingwoman, atem always had his own body au, based on ''it's nice to have a friend'' by taylor swift, jonouchi is absolutely their best man, progression of relationship, school friends to lovers to husbands? you bet!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:29:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27330493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duelistkingdom/pseuds/duelistkingdom
Summary: atem's always had a crush on yugi. and over the course of a few years, he gets to slowly go from friends to lovers with his crush.
Relationships: Atem/Mutou Yuugi, Mutou Yuugi/Yami Yuugi, Puzzleshipping - Relationship
Series: nanonwrimo 2020: 100k challenge [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1995451
Comments: 10
Kudos: 38





	it's nice to have a friend

Atem was and always had been a very nervous guy. It had been unnerving enough to have to move in the middle of the school year to Japan due to his dad’s job. He got even more nervous when it came to people who were pretty – kind of like Yugi. Yugi was very pretty and every single time he got to the class he shared with Yugi, Atem was distracted all class just staring at Yugi. At this point, Atem was certain that if someone asked him to draw Yugi from memory, he could. Every single day he looked for his chance to talk to Yugi.

Of course, he didn’t make the first move. Yugi did. One day Yugi had approached him with a soft smile on his face, asking Atem if it was true that he moved here from Egypt. Atem was certainly he stumbled over his affirmative and wasn’t sure how he managed to screw that up. The school bell rang and Yugi offered to walk Atem home. When Atem asked why, Yugi mentioned that it seemed like Atem could use a friend. From that day, it was one of Atem’s most cherished rituals. All he would have to say is “walk me home” when the school bell rang and Yugi would. This was what Atem quickly discovered about Yugi: he was always there. All one had to do was simply ask.

It led Atem to wonder if Yugi ever did anything for himself. As far as he could tell, Yugi’s heart was made out of gold. One day, Yugi had passed him a note. From that day, they were passing notes under the desks to talk to each other. All this to lead to one winter day when Yugi had lost one of his gloves and Atem finally had the chance to do something for Yugi: he lent Yugi one of his gloves. Yugi tried to protest but Atem waved it off, insisting that it was nothing. Of course, Atem hadn’t realized at the time how cold a snowy day felt like. Yugi had laughed and insisted that Atem stay over and have some hot chocolate with him, but the way Yugi phrased it as “wanna hang out” stuck out to Atem. Of course he did. Hanging out with Yugi sounded like fun.

As the snow melted away and spring came around again, Atem spent more time hanging out with Yugi. He found himself looking forward to any time he got to spend simply just being around him. No matter what, Yugi was on his mind. Eventually, Yugi’s friend group was now his friend group. Anzu wound up being a very dear friend to Atem, the one he confided his crush on Yugi to. The main reason he trusted Anzu is that she was a vault. Telling Anzu something was like writing it down on a piece of paper and then setting the piece of paper on fire. In fact, Anzu had now became his confident when it came to his crush on Yugi. He’d tell her about almost anything and she’d simply listen. From there, she encouraged Atem to spend time alone with Yugi and insisted that she bets Yugi likes him back. She kept saying Atem would never know if he didn’t just go for it.

The bet wasn’t very high stakes – he would simply owe her a soda if she turned out to be right. Still, he wasn’t very eager to find out if she was right. He didn’t want to fracture his friendship with Yugi, not when Yugi’s friendship meant everything to Atem. One night in the summer, however, Anzu pushed Yugi and Atem to share a tent together while they were camping. He knew exactly what Anzu was doing with this and it was almost endearing. She wanted so bad for things to work out between her two best friends and Atem couldn’t be angry with her for that even if it was embarrassing. Yugi had simply rolled with it though he couldn’t help but note the blush that appeared across Yugi’s cheeks when Anzu had suggested it. He dared to hope that this meant Yugi had some sort of feelings for him too.

It created a tradition of camping every summer together, even when the rest of their friend group didn’t want to. They would spend the night in tents playing video games on their Gameboys, trading the version exclusive Pokemon with each other. Sometimes they’d even bring their Duel Monster decks and duel by the portable lantern’s light. It was a nice breather as the school years got harder. The tradition stayed up until graduation, where they sat in the tent telling each other about their plans for the future. Atem’s father had wanted Atem to go into politics like him but Atem didn’t really want that. He didn’t know what he wanted, really. Yugi, however, knew exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to develop video games himself and hopefully, people would like the ones he created.

Anzu warned him before she left for New York City for her international studies that Atem should take a chance before he lost it forever. She said that people only have so long and that if Atem really liked Yugi still, this was the perfect time to begin planning for a future together. Atem wondered how Anzu could be so confident that it was the right call to make. Now Anzu was gone and it was just Jonouchi, Honda, Ryou, Otogi, Yugi, and him during their usual trips to the arcade. Of course, they all knew Anzu would eventually come back. For now, she was just chasing her dreams and they fully accepted that. Jonouchi was now busy with his dreams of theater and Honda was busy with his university studies. Ryou was now studying the occult and started a YouTube channel dedicated to discussing it. Otogi was wrapped up in trying to open his own arcade – something that Otogi admitted would take a lot of time. And that left him and Yugi.

Yugi was in university too, studying software development and game design. Atem had enrolled in university for something to keep his father off his back. He wound up deciding to major in astrophysics if only because he’d always like math and figured that space was kind of neat. The first year of university was the most stressed out that Atem had ever been in his entire life. Yugi and Atem had found a secluded rooftop that they would sneak up to together to have a beer together after classes. One day, as the sun was sinking down, Yugi suggested they play twenty questions to pass the time. Atem was surprised by this and pointed out that they know most everything about each other, to which Yugi suggested they drink for each question they know the answer to then. Atem wound up agreeing and the next thing he knew, they were both slightly tipsy under a light pink sky and laughing as they reminisced over old times in high school.

Suddenly, Yugi was giving him a very intense look as Yugi admitted that university was stressing him out slightly. Atem didn’t know why he admitted to also being stressed out lately, but it came out as a soft “me too” as he was overwhelmed by the intense gaze Yugi was giving him. Yugi then mentioned one of the earliest times they ever hung out, smiling as he recalled the detail of Atem giving Yugi his glove because he’d lost one of his. Atem replied that he would’ve given Yugi both his gloves. His heart was racing as he tried to maintain eye contact despite Yugi’s fierce stare. He’d never noticed just how purple Yugi’s eyes were. They were an almost unnatural violet and Atem couldn’t think of a single thing in nature to compare them to. Perhaps sometimes he’d pluck the color out of a sunset but it was elusive and uniquely Yugi. While he was distracted with Yugi’s eyes, Yugi had plucked up enough courage to reach over and place his hand gently on Atem’s. Atem was startled as he leaned in closer to Yugi.

He racked his brain and realized that this was the first time ever that Yugi’s hand had ever touched his. It was like the two of them had gone out of their way to avoid this and it sent electricity running right down his spine. He was certain that this was the romantic moment that people talked about when they mentioned holding hands. If Yugi was going to take a risk, Atem was going to take one too. He leaned in and Yugi mirrored him. That was all Atem needed for his other hand to cup Yugi’s cheek, pulling him in for a desperate kiss. Everything that Atem could ever say was in this one single kiss – how grateful he was for Yugi’s friendship, how he was so happy that Yugi had reached out to him, how much he cared about Yugi, and... how hard he’d fallen in love with Yugi. Yugi returned the kiss with equal fervor, pouring all his love and affection into one single kiss.

University was now just Yugi and Atem studying together, holding hands whenever they could and eventually, Atem landed a job that was stable enough to agree to sign a lease on an apartment with Yugi. When Anzu managed to make it back to Japan for a break in studies, she laughed as Atem told her how Yugi and him were now together. She teased him about how she always knew that they liked each other and made Atem keep his word and buy her a soda for being right. Jonouchi congratulated the pair on moving in together, joking that he’s going to be the best man at their wedding.

He had to admit that it was great when Yugi would call his bluffs and eventually, they were exclusively referring to each other by pet names. Weekends would come around and he and Yugi would just stay in bed together for as long as they could. And when Atem could take it no more, he proposed to Yugi right in their kitchen with a watery speech about how long they’d been friends, how he’d had a crush on Yugi since high school, how it would make him the happiest man on Earth if he could call Yugi his husband. Yugi said yes.

Atem decided that it was nice to have a friend.


End file.
